LETTER (March 21 2008): It is reported that "Pepco is now demanding Rs 9 plus for a unit" instead of Rs 3.69 per unit from KESC. Contrast this with the prices that are charged by electric utilities in India.This is from an article by Brahma Chellaney in "The Hindu" of 17th March: "Escalating construction costs have resulted in all the newer nuclear plants pricing their electricity at between 270 and 285 paise a kilowatt hour (kWh). Compare those tariffs with Reliance Energy's coal-fired Sason plant project, which has contracted to sell power at 119 paise a kWh, or even with the poorly-run Dadri plant, which supplies electricity to Delhi at 225 paise a kWh, although coal has to be hauled for the plant over long distances."

I doubt that even the KESC (let alone Pepco) knows that electricity is so cheap (Rs 1.19 to Rs 2.85 per unit) in India. So it is likely that the eight hour long power outages are due to KESC not being able to buy electricity at Rs 9 per unit from Pepco.Copyright Business Recorder, 2008